By James Tabafunda
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Community safety officials and Seattle police warned Chinatown-International District (CID) residents and businesses to prepare for an influx of hundreds of thousands of FIFA World Cup visitors this summer.
The Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area (CIDBIA) hosted its second public safety forum on May 19 in a hybrid format, combining a live online session with a small in-person gathering at its main office.
Ambassador program scales up ahead of six match days
Christopher Yip, CIDBIA community safety manager, opened the forum by announcing that the ambassador program had hired four additional staffers since April, strengthening the program’s daily deployment.
“We’re ramping up to have six people on staff every day,” he said. “Currently we have one person that can speak Vietnamese. And when we hire the next two ambassadors starting in June, we’ll also have a language capacity for Taishanese and Cantonese as well.”
The expanded team reflects a cultural shift. Since May 1, ambassador hours shifted from daytime to 3 p.m.-11 p.m. daily, in preparation for the FIFA World Cup. Ambassadors—identifiable by bright yellow vests—are trained in de-escalation, CPR, AED, Stop the Bleed and first aid, with certifications from the International District Emergency Center and the Seattle Fire Department.
The program’s scope also grew beyond public safety to include maintenance duties: graffiti abatement and litter and waste removal in what Yip described as an expanded “safety and maintenance ambassador” role.
Six match days to test the CID’s capacity
The ambassador program will face its most intensive test during the six FIFA World Cup matches Seattle will host between mid-June and early July at Lumen Field (renamed “Seattle Stadium” during FIFA World Cup). The city expects more than 400,000 visitors across all match days, with large crowds in and around the stadium.
The match schedule that falls within the CID’s area of heightened concern: Belgium vs. Egypt at noon on June 15; USA vs. Australia at noon on June 19; the winner of Playoff A vs. Qatar at noon on June 24; Egypt vs. Iran at 8 p.m. on June 26; Group G vs. third place at 1 p.m. on July 1; and Match 81 vs. Match 83 on July 6.
Because several matches begin at noon or 1 p.m.—earlier than the program’s standard 3 p.m. start—ambassador teams will deploy earlier on game days and station personnel at King Street Station and Union Station to assist arriving visitors.
“On those days, we’ll be staffing a couple hours early,” Yip said. “We’ll have people at King Street or Union Station to be able to help with wayfinding at this event.”
The CIDBIA’s safety plan anticipates tailgating, planned and unplanned parades, watch parties, and a significant increase of foot traffic through the neighborhood on all six match days, given the CID’s proximity to “Seattle Stadium” and major transit hubs.
SPD: No street closures in CID, but traffic displacement expected
Seattle Police Department (SPD) Lt. Sage Farwell, the West Precinct’s operations commander, appeared at the forum online and outlined what CID residents should expect during match days—including a vehicle exclusion zone that will displace considerable traffic through the neighborhood’s corridors.
“There’s going to be an exclusion zone, which is going to be to the north—Edgar Martinez to the south, Fourth Avenue to the east, and First Avenue to the west,” he said. “So that’s going to be a vehicle no-go area for the period of each individual game, as well as a couple-hour buffer on each side.”
The Seattle Department of Transportation confirmed there will be no street closures within the CID itself, but rerouted bus traffic and vehicles displaced from the exclusion zone are expected to flow through CID streets on each of the six match days. Pioneer Square will become a pedestrian-only zone on match days, with street closures beginning hours before kickoff.
City officials are urging fans and residents alike to avoid driving entirely, with a stated goal of 80% of World Cup attendees arriving car-free using Link Light Rail, buses, and commuter rail. King County Metro plans to add service on each match day, with trains running on shortened headways.
Farwell said the metro bus system would be rerouted east-west through the neighborhood along Yesler Way and South Jackson Street, and that Fourth Avenue—though it borders the exclusion zone’s eastern edge—would remain open for north-south vehicle flow.
“I believe that Metro was going to be rerouted through east-west on Yesler and Jackson,” he said. “Fourth Avenue, even though it’s the border of the exclusion zone, is going to be open for traffic.”
Available transit options through the neighborhood include light rail at the King Street Station on both Line 1 and Line 2, the First Hill Streetcar running to Fifth Avenue, rerouted bus lines, rideshare services, scooters, and e-bikes. SPD will work mandatory overtime and provide additional staffing around the stadium on all six match days.
SPD warns of scams, pickpocketing as international soccer event nears
Beyond logistics, Farwell issued a pointed warning to CID residents and businesses about the types of street-level crime that large international sporting events typically attract.
“With any large, especially international event like this, we’re going to see an influx of people that are coming into town not necessarily for enjoyment of the event,” he said. “There are going to be people coming into town specifically with the notion and idea of taking advantage of people—through scams, pickpocketing, street-level crimes like that.”
Yip added the international sporting event will also bring heightened security, including an FBI presence and bomb-sniffing dogs.
Farwell urged community members to rely on their existing knowledge of who belongs in the neighborhood. “If you see something, don’t hesitate to call 9-1-1 and report that,” he said.
“Everybody in the neighborhood—they know their community better than anybody else,” Farwell said. “They know who belongs, who doesn’t belong, who doesn’t look like they’re just there to visit the neighborhood.”
Farwell also offered broader guidance on how the neighborhood should approach game days, drawing on strategies CID businesses have developed over years of large stadium events.
“The issues are going to be increased mainly because of the no-vehicle zone,” he said. “Just anticipate that, and do the best you can to mitigate the personal effects of it.”
Crime trending down; SPD calls for patience on staffing
Farwell credited a combination of community partnerships and new policing strategies with a significant year-over-year decline in crime across the district. SPD data presented at the forum showed year-to-date violent crimes through mid-May 2026 totaling 92 incidents, compared with 262 over the same period in both 2025 and 2024. Property crimes year-to-date stood at 210, compared with 567 in 2025 and 619 in 2024.
“It looks like we’re trending down, which is a reflection of the great job that our officers are doing, as well as our partnerships with community and other city organizations,” he said.
The department continues search patrols—in which officers on the first and second watch alternate between responding to 9-1-1 calls and conducting purely proactive police work—as well as nightlife emphasis patrols focused on the CID’s nightlife district and the 8th Avenue South and South Lane Street corridor.
SPD is also working through its Community Response Group on a targeted initiative at 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street, focusing enforcement on drug dealers and street-level predators over people who use drugs.
“Their main initiative is to go after the players, as opposed to the users in that area,” Farwell said. “We know that a lot of the issues we’re seeing in the area are being driven by the people that are coming in to prey on our disadvantaged folks, our unhoused folks, our addicted folks.”
He acknowledged that Seattle’s West Precinct is still growing its force, with three new officers coming online this month, but cautioned that it takes roughly a year from hire to street duty.
“We are getting an influx of officers, and I just ask for patience,” Farwell said. “Eventually these officers are going to get out on the street and in the communities where they can do a lot of really good work.”
Monica Ly, the CID’s SPD public safety liaison, advised community members to access SPD’s crime dashboard—filtering by West Precinct, beat “K3,” neighborhood “International District,” and map selection “MCPP”—for real-time local incident data.
“I want to acknowledge that the city is underreported because of language barriers,” she said. “So this does not fully show what is actually happening in the neighborhood.”
For more information on the Seattle Police Department’s crime dashboard, go to www.seattle.gov/police/information-and-data/data/crime-dashboard. The next in-person forum is scheduled for July 21 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at 522 7th Avenue South in Seattle.
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